Three Motifs: 2nd Motif

Deformities:

In “The Kite Runner” deformities feature often and seem, counter intuitively to suggest goodness. In most Hollywood movies the stereotypical “bad guys” often have facial scarring or other obvious injuries. It is interesting that the characters in “The Kite Runner” that do bad things do not have any deformities, for example Amir, Baba and Assef. Characters like Ali, Hassan and Soraya all have deformities and are depicted as very good people. Ali with his many imperfections and nickname of boogeyman by children is also possibly the kindest character in the whole book. Hassan with his cleft lip displays such admirable qualities in a person not only is he loyal but he is also very protective. Soraya with her sickle shaped birthmark helps Amir through his fathers Cancer and his later death, she also welcomes Sohrab into her home with open arms. These physically disfigured characters seem to show such goodness and so many fine qualities which is put into interesting and direct opposition to the characters mentioned earlier, Amir, Baba and Assef who display bad qualities. Amir is not only selfish but also very disloyal, Baba is also unfaithful to his friend Ali and unloving to Amir and finally Assef is undoubtedly villainous.